Gastrointestinal bleeding from large angiomas

Cavernous haemangioma of the jejunum. Long-standing anaemia in a child

A 15-year-old boy who had been examined for almost lifelong iron deficiency anaemia caused by occult gastrointestinal bleeding was eventually, by abdominal surgery, found to have a cavernous haemangioma of the jejunum. A diagnostic approach is described and the importance of systematic evaluation and subsequent diagnosis in such patients is stressed.

[Anemia in the elderly subject secondary to jejunal vascular malformation. Apropos of 2 cases]

Two cases of normocytic regenerative anemia in two patients aged 84 and 86 respectively were related to gastrointestinal bleeding. Abdominal angiography was negative in both cases. Only laparotomy provided a diagnosis of jejunal vascular malformation with the aid of peroperative endoscopy. Angiodysplasia was diagnosed in one case and capillary hemangioma in the other. In these very old people with very somber prognosis, anemia was corrected by surgery without recurrence after 8 and 10 months respectively. Gastrointestinal malformations are found in about 20 p. 100 of unexplained digestive hemorrhages. In most cases they are localized in the right large bowel, especially in old patients. Jejunal localizations are 7 to 8 times less frequent and have been described in younger patients. Up to now, selective abdominal angiography has been the main diagnostic procedure. We must insist on the value of peroperative endoscopy when angiography is negative.